Kitchen-cabinet.



KITCHEN CABINET. APPLICATION FILED JULY2,1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

lNVEIN'TOR. ALEXANDER R. s'TEPHENs rue: NORRIS PETERS cm, wasnmc'rou. n.c.

I PATENTED JAN. 29, 1907.

A. R. STEPHENS.

KITCHEN CABINET. v APPLICATION FILED JULY2. 1906.

s sums-sum 2.

lNvENToR. ALEXANDER R; STEPHENS.

ms Nomus Pzrsns'cm, WASHINGTON, n. c

No. 842,720. PATBNTED JAN. 29, 1907.

A, R. STEPHENS.

KITCHEN CABINET. APPLICATION FILED JULYZ, 1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3'.

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1n: NORRIS PETERS 00., WASHINGTON, v. c.

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KITCHEN-CABINET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 29, 1907.

Application filed July 2, 1906. Serial No. 324,519.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER R. STE- PHENS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Jamestown, Moniteau county,

Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inKitchen-Cabinets, of which the following is a specification containing afull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying 1o drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to a kitchen-cabinet; and the object of myinvention is to construct a simple cabinet for conveniently holdingflour, meal, and similar commodities r 5 which are in daily use in akitchen, and which cabinet is provided with a series of compartments ordrawers for holding knives, forks, spoons, and similar kitchen utensils.

A further object of my invention is to pro vide means whereby the flour,meal, and the like are thoroughly sifted at the time they are dischargedfrom their respective compartments.

A further object of my invention is to arrange a pair of dough-boards orshelves which are moved into horizontal positions at the ends of thecabinet when the doors in the front of said cabinet are opened to removethe receptacles containing the sifted 0 flour ormeal.

To the above purposes my invention consists in certainnovel features ofconstruction and arrangement of parts, which will be .hereinafter morefully set forth, pointed out 3 5 in the claims, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevationof akitchencabinet of my improved construction. Fig. 2 is a side elevationof the cabinet. Fig. 3

is a vertical section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is ahorizontal section taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a verticalsection taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is an enlarged-detailsection taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 4 and showing the bearings of oneof the dough-boards. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of theremovable -screen-sections used in connection with one of the siftingdevices of my improved cabinet.

In the construction of my improved kitchen cabinet the main body portionthereof is a rectangular structure comprising a base or bottom 1, rearwall 2, end walls 3, front wall 4, and top 5, the latter extend ing fromthe rear wall 2 to a point approximately one-half way between the rearwall and said front wall 4. Hinged to the front edge of this top 5 is alid 6, which normally closes the. space between the top 5 and the frontwall 4.

Extending upwardly from the top of the body so formed is the rear wall 7of a superstructure, and at the ends of said rear wall are locatedsuitable end pieces 8, and arranged between the upper portions of saidend pieces is a suitable housing 9, in which are located drawers andcompartments 10, which are designed to receive knives, forks, spoons,and like kitchen utensils or bakingpowder, spices, or similarcommodities.

Located in the main body of the cabinet at a point midway between thebottom 1 and top 5 is a horizontally-disposed partition 11, and asimilar partition 12 is located at a point approximately one-half waybetween said partition 11 and the bottom 1. The ends of these partitions11 and 12 are united by end walls 13, which are arranged a shortdistance away from the inside faces of the end walls 3 of the cabinet,and a vertically-disposed centrally-arranged partition 14 divides thespace between the partitions 11 and 12 into two uniform compartments 15.Leading downwardly into the forward portions of these compartments 15are discharge-spouts 16, preferably constructed of sheet metal.

Located in the body of the cabinet between the partition 11 and top 5are suitable hoppers 17, which are designed to receive flour, meal, orsimilar products, the lower ends of which hoppers communicate with thedischarge-spouts 16. Arranged to slide through the front wall 4immediately above the partition 11 and between each hopper 17 and itsspout 16 is a frame 18, the rear portion of which carries a section 19of reticulated material, such as fine wire mesh, and which reticulatedsection is curved in crosssection. When the sliding frames 18 are movedinwardly to their limit of movement, the reticulated sections 19 arearranged directly between the lower ends of the hoppers 17 and thespouts 16. Arranged for rotation in the lower end of each hopper 17 is ahorizontally-disposed shaft 20, which extends outwardly through thefront wall 4 of the cabinet, at which point it is provided with acrank-handle 21. 20, in the lower end of the hopper 17, is a series ofarms 22, which when the shaft 20 is rotated ride around upon the topsurface of the Positioned on each shaft- ICC- corresponding reticulatedsection 19, thus performing the function of an ordinary roj tary sifter.Formed through the front wall 4 immediately in front of one of thehoppers 17 which is intended to contain cornmeal, is ahorizontally-disposed slot 23, which is adapted to receive a plate 24,which acts as a cut-off to prevent the body of the meal in thiscompartment from discharging through the sifter when it is desired toclean the latter or remove bran and coarse material from the siftingapparatus.

Beneath t e partition 12 is a compartment 25, normally occupied by adrawer 26, which slides through the lower portion of the front wall 4 ofthe cabinet. Hinged doors 27 are arranged in the front wall 4 of thecabinet and normally close the front ends of the compartments 15, andcarried by the lower portion of each door on the inside thereof is aninwardly-projecting shelf 28, the rear corners of which are cut away,and which shelf is designed to receive a pan or similar receptacle, intowhich the flour or cornmeal discharges from the spout 16 after passingthrough the corresponding sifting device.

Vertically disposed on the outside of each end wall 3 and at the frontand rear portions thereof are the panels 29, between which are formedspaces 30, which are normally occuied by the sliding and swingingdoughoards 31. Extending across the lower portion of each pair of panels29 is a rectangular panel 32, and fixed to the upper end of each ofthese panels 32 is a pair of outwardly-extending brackets 33.

Formed in the outer face of each end wall 3 is a vertically-disposedgroove 34, and formed through each end wall at the upper end of eachgroove is an aperture 35, and there being a grooved pulley 36 located onthe inside of each wall 3 adjacent each aperture 35. Formed through thelower portion of each end wall 13 of compartments 15 is an aperture 37,and located on the outer face of each end wall adjacent the aperturetherein is a grooved pulley 33. A suitable flexible connection, such asa cord or chain, is secured to the rear end of each shelf 23 and extendsfrom thence through the corresponding aperture 37, around the groovedpulley 38 adj acent thereto, and from thence upwardly over thecorresponding grooved pulley 36, through the corresponding aperture 35,and from thence downwardly through the adjacent groove 34, and the lowerend of said cord or exible connection is secured to the lower end of thecorresponding dough-board 31. Suitable journals 40 are secured to thelower corners of each dough-board 31, which journals are adapted toengage in suitable bearings 41, formed in the inner edges of the panels29 in alinement with the top edges of the panels 32.

Formed through the end walls 3, adjacent the upper ends thereof andadjacent the in ner edges of the rear pair of panels 29, are apertures42, and located on the inner faces of the end walls 3 adjacent saidapertures are the grooved pulleys 43. A suitable flexible coimection 44,such as a chain or cable, is

secured to the outer end of each doughboard 31 and extends from thenceupwardly through the corresponding aperture 42, from thence around theadjacent pulley 43, and thence downwardly on the interior of thecabinet, and the lower end of each flexible connection is provided witha small counterbalancing-weight 45.

When the doors 27 are closed, thedoughboards 31 slide downwardly betweenthe panels 29 behind the panels 32, and portions of the flexibleconnections 39 occupy the grooves 34. A supply of flour is located inone of the hoppers 17, and a supply of cornmeal or similar commodity islocated in the hopper 17, through which the slide 24 is adapted tooperate. The receptacles, such as mi. 'ng pans or bowls, which are toreceive the flour or meal are kept in position on the shelves 28,carried by the doors 27.

When it is desired to use flour, the operator engages the crank-handle21 of the sift ing apparatus in front of the flour-compartment androtates said crank-handle and in so doing moves the arms 22, carried bythe shaft 20, rapidly over the reticulated section 19 beneath theflour-hopper, and as a result the flour is very quickly and thoroughlysifted through said reticulated section and discharged through thecorresponding spout 16 into the pan or bowl located on the correspondingshelf 28. When the proper amount of flour has been delivered into thepan, which amount can be noted through the glass in the front of thecorresponding door 27, the operator opens said door and swings the sameoutwardly tothe position seen in Fig. 4, when the pan or receptacle maybe readily removed from the shelf 28. This opening of the door draws thecorresponding flexible connection 39 outwardly, and as a result the endof said flexible connection, which is attached to the correspondingdough-board 31, is drawn upwardly, and thus said doughboard is elevatedbetween the panels 29 until the journals 4O engage in the bearings 41.When so elevated, said dough-board will swing downwardly into ahorizontal position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, owing to thefact that said dough-board is slightly heavier than is its correspondingcounterbalancingwveight 45, and thus the doughboard will automaticallyswing into an operative position, resting upon the brackets33 when thecorresponding door 27 is swung open. The operator now removes the pan orreceptacle from the shelf 28 and places the same upon the dough-board,where it is in a convenient position to be handled. The oppositecompartment,which is intended to ITO contain cornmeal and the like, isprovided with the sliding plate 24, which may be inserted through theslot 23 whenever desired in order to cut off the supply of meal from thesifting apparatus when a considerable amount of bran or coarse materialhas been deposited on the reticulated section 19 in order that the frame18 containing said reticulated section may be withdrawn to remove saidcoarse material.

Both of the frames 18 are-made removable in order that the reticulatedsections thereof may be cleaned whenever desired.

A kitchen-cabinet of my improved con struction is simple andinexpensive, very conveniently holds flour, meal, and similarcommodities used in the kitchen, and the doughboards are readily broughtinto position when the doors are opened to remove the sifted flour ormeal.

It will be readily understood how the dough-boards will move into theiroutofthe Way positions when the doors 27 are closed.

I claim 1. A kitchen-cabinet, constructed with an inclosed body portion,a hopper arranged in said body portion, a sifting device arranged in thelower end of the hopper, a door normally closing the compartment belowthe sifting device, a shelf carried by said door, a sliding dough-boardarranged in the side of the body, and connections between saiddough-board and the shelf whereby said dough-board is moved into ahorizontal position whenever the door carrying the shelf is opened;substantially as specified.

2. A kitchen-cabinet, constructed with an inclosed body portion, hoppersarranged in said body, movable dough-boards arranged on the sides of thebody, doors normally closing the compartment below the hoppers, andconnections between the doors and the dough-boards whereby the latterare moved into operative position when the doors are opened;substantially as specified.

3. A kitchen-cabinet, constructed with an inclosed body portion, movabledoughboards arranged on the sides of said body portion, doors normallyclosing a compartment in the lower portion of the body, and connectionsbetween the doors and the dough-boards whereby the latter are moved intooperative position when the doors are opened; substantially asspecified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification inpresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALEXANDER R. STEPHENS.

Witnesses:

A. B. MEYER, ALBERT HERNDON.

